And the Stars Fall Down
by jellyjay
Summary: He had hoped they would have more time but he'd left it for too long, and now this is it. This is all they'll have. At least until next time. And there will be a next time. He can promise that.


**And the Stars Fall Down**

First of all, Eren does _not_ have a crush on the girl who runs the carousel. He doesn't, okay? She's a nice girl, and she's very pretty, and just because he goes out of his way to talk to her every couple of days, it doesn't mean he has a _crush _on her because how fucking juvenile does that sound? What is he, like nine years old?

It's not a crush, and if Kirschstein call is it that one more time, he might just punch him in the face.

"Well, if it's not a crush, what is it?"

Eren scowls. The speaker _isn't_ Jean, so he supposes he can't punch him for it. It's Armin instead, and he's got his arms leaning on the counter with a curious eyebrow raised in his direction. It's not very busy today (it's rarely _ever_ busy nowadays), so it's just the two of them manning the central food stall. Jean is supposed to be here too, but he's annoying as shit anyway so Eren doesn't feel like there's any real loss.

Armin, though, (while less douche-y than Jean) is just as perceptive. That kid can read anyone like an open book, and it doesn't help that he and Eren have been friends for years. There's a knowing glint in his eye and a smug little lilt in his voice, and Eren doesn't like it because it means he already knows everything there is to know about the situation.

There is no lying to Armin Arlert because he knows bullshit when he hears it. He _always_ knows.

"Well?"

Eren huffs and stares down at his fingers just to avoid look his friend in the face. Truth be told, he doesn't know what it is altogether. It's an odd range of symptoms; he can go from feeling feverish and awkward in one second to queasy and stupid the next. Sometimes his heart beats faster in his chest and his hands will get all gross and sweaty. Sometimes the symptoms are just weird, but there is one constant, and it's that he only ever gets these feelings around _her._

Annie Leonhardt. The carousel girl.

Armin lets out a laugh.

Eren stares at him. "What? I haven't even said anything yet."

"You don't have to," says Armin, grinning. "That's a crush."

x

Maria was a busy town once. It used to be a popular stop for tourists on their way to bigger cities because it was small and homey and a rather lovely place to spend a day or two to refresh before the long drive to Rose.

Once, it was brimming with life, and people from all over came to relax in the quaint little town surrounded by miles of meadows in the Cowboy State. It had a population big enough for a few different schools to be built, but still small enough for everyone to know each other relatively well. It was never really big on exports, but it did have a theme park that did well enough to sustain it.

It's an old town, now.

There's a new highway that cuts the travel time to Rose in half, so they don't get very many tourists anymore. Business is dying and a lot of people have left. The population is getting smaller by the year, especially because kids are leaving by the dozen to go to college.

Things have begun to get a little rundown.

No one really sticks around if they can help it.

x

The theme park thing is just a thing Annie does to kill time in the summer.

Eren knows this because he does it too. Mikasa would also be doing it, but she's got herself a part time job at the cafe a couple of blocks from the park. He has a feeling she prefers it to doing nothing all day at a dying theme park. He can't blame her. There are rumours that it might finally close down at the end of the summer, but that's all they are. Rumours.

It doesn't matter anyway. It's everyone's last summer here.

"Annie?"

She glances up. The carousel has slowed to a stop, and the few customers on it have filed off. There's no one else around but him.

"Hello, Eren," she greets uninterestedly.

He grins at her. "Er. Hi." He coughs nervously and offers her a soda. "It's hot out today. I – uh – thought you might like one."

Annie raises an eyebrow at him, but she shrugs and moves to accept the can. "Thanks," she mumbles. "What do you want?"

He coughs awkwardly. "I just wanted to say hi, really. It's pretty quiet by the food stalls as always."

"You're not much use here, either," she comments idly.

Eren pouts at her. "Come on, Annie, don't be like that. I'm entertaining, aren't I?"

"Not really," snorts Annie (although Eren can see the hints of amusement in her eyes. She's not as stoic as she thinks she is – at least, not to him). "Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"I can be on a break," he offers. "You look like you could use one too. Wanna join me?"

Annie scoffs, but she glances at him out of the corner of her eye, catching the eager grin on his face, and she sighs. She doesn't need to say anything else for Eren to know her answer.

x

Annie's shifts usually start in the afternoon, so if he can help it, he times her breaks so with hers. Sometimes, she takes her break at dusk, just to watch the sun set over the mountains on the other side of the bay. She sits herself on the boardwalk when she can, legs dangling over the edge and watches the way the sun sets fire to the sky as it dips below the horizon. The lights in the park come on at around the same time, and it turns a normal theme park by day into something magical at night.

It's a beautiful transition to watch, and to be honest, a chance to sit and talk with Annie isn't the only reason he goes to such lengths to make sure he shares his breaks with her.

It's become a sort of tradition between them. He knows she doesn't mind as much as she pretends to.

x

The managers start calling staff meetings in the towards the end of July, and no one needs to be told what they're about.

"The park's closing," they're told. "Maria can't afford to keep it open anymore. It's time you lot start looking for other options. This place will be done for good by the end of August."

To be honest, no one's really surprised. It's been a long time coming. There's not really a lot they can do about it. A good percentage of these kids are starting college in September anyway, so, Eren supposes, it could be worse. But this theme park was all anyone had for a while. They've made a lot of friends here, and the idea that the park is closing down scares them a lot because it's a sign that Maria is finally done.

They're all leaving anyway, but Maria was – _is _– their home. There had always been the option of coming back. Now there's not even that.

x

"It's finally happening," says Armin.

Eren glances at him from the other side of the stall and heaves a quiet sigh. "It had to happen some time, right?"

"Yeah." Armin sighs too, and looks reminiscently over the park. "Kinda sucks, to be honest," he says. "This place is nice. I don't really wanna leave it."

"Who do you think you're kidding?" snorts Eren. "You're going to Stanford in September – there's no way you're not excited about that. You've always wanted to see everything outside of this town."

Armin shrugs. "Doesn't mean I won't miss it. We all grew up here, y'know? It sucks to leave and to know that coming back permanently probably won't be an option. You're leaving town too – aren't you at least a little sad?"

"I dunno." Eren breathes a quiet sigh. "There's never been much around here. I dunno if there's anything I'll really miss."

Beside him, Armin snorts. "What about Annie?"

"What about her?" says Eren, perhaps a little too quickly.

"Closing day is in a few weeks. Are you going to tell her?"

"There nothing to tell," he answers stubbornly.

Armin holds back a laugh, and shoots a grin at his friend. "Well, if that's what you want to believe," he says, nudging Eren in the ribs. "But if you do decide to tell her, you should probably do it soon. She's leaving too, you know. Mina said she's going to New York. Closing day might be your last chance."

Eren makes an odd noise in the back of his throat and pretends he has no idea what Armin means.

x

Even with the impending closure of the park, the days go by like nothing has changed. Business is as slow as ever, and what morale the park staff had to begin with is dwindling away.

"Fuck this," says Connie one day. He and Sasha are on their breaks and they've taken seats at the counter of the central food stall. There are two weeks til closing now, and their conversation is loud enough that Eren can't even pretend he's not listening, but they seem eager enough to include him when he comes nearer.

"Fine. We can't do anything about the park closing down, but if it's gonna go, I vote we let it go with a bang."

Sasha looks horrified. "Connie, we're not going to blow up the park!"

He looks at her like she's gone crazy. "You're kidding right?" He shakes his head. "I mean, like. When I was a little kid and this place was still booming, they used to set off fireworks on the other side of the bay, remember?"

Eren does, and he thinks back to when his father used to sit him on his shoulders to watch the sky light up over the bay. "What's that got to do with closing?"

Connie grins at him. "I know a guy – I think we might be able to get some stuff for closing night."

"Is that even _legal_?" Sasha asks.

He shrugs. "The fuck if I know. Do you wanna help?"

Sasha pauses. Then she smirks. "Hell yeah."

x

Eren is at least eighty percent sure that his foster sister has the athletic talent to get into any university she wants – the only other person who comes even close is Annie, and he knows this because every track and field meet he goes to in support of Mikasa ends the same: with one or the other (or sometimes both) taking out the gold in each event.

She's going to the University of Wyoming with him instead, and don't get him wrong – he loves her dearly and it's great that they'll be going to college together, but to him, it seemed a little stupid to turn down athletic scholarships from colleges like Yale and Dartmouth. Still, he supposes the decision was hers and he can't judge her for whatever choices he makes – and her company is always better than none.

Everyone else is leaving.

Jean is going abroad, and as much as he dislikes him, Jean and Mikasa have soft spots for each other, and Eren knows it's tough on the both of them. Armin is going to Stanford, and Connie and Sasha are going to the University of Pittsburgh, and Annie's going to New York – basically everyone's leaving and it's a little depressing to think about because the chances of ever seeing each other again are pretty slim.

He supposes that Connie and Sasha are right in wanting to make their last days memorable.

x

"Hey."

There's only a week left til closing day now, and Annie's sitting on the dock again with her feet dangling over the edge. She's dumped her shoes on the boardwalk so that she can skim her toes against the surface of the water, and Eren watches her for a moment and tries to memorise the way the orange of the setting sun shines like flecks of gold in her hair.

She glances up at him and offers him a nod. "Hi," she greets quietly. "Aren't you ever working?"

Eren snorts. "Like there's ever anything to do," he says, shrugging. "New York, huh?"

"Yeah," she murmurs, turning her eyes back to the bay. "Where are you going?"

He shrugs again and takes a seat next her. "Not very far," he tells her, leaning back on his arms. "The University of Wyoming. Just as prestigious as NYU, I know," he jokes. "Are you excited?"

"What's there to be excited about?" says Annie. "New York's just like every where else – just busier and noisier with a shit ton more people."

"Brr," says Eren, raising an eyebrow at her. "Have you been before?"

"No," she says. "But people are all the same, whether there are more of them or not."

x

When they were younger, Eren used to get into a lot of fights with kids from other schools. He'd come home sometimes with bruises on his arms and black eyes, and eventually, his dad became so sick of telling his son not to fight other kids that he just enrolled him in a martial arts class.

If you can't take the kid from a fight, teach the kid how to fight, right? At least then, it's constructive.

That's when he first met Annie.

She was just another kid in his class, except she was three times better than him at everything. He'd always admired her and the techniques she employed to take down kids twice as big as her – she was the reason he'd pushed himself to get better and stronger, but even as a ten year old, she had always kept to herself and only dealt with people when she had to.

He figures that's why she can tolerate him more than others – she's already had practise.

x

"Psst, Eren!"

It's just about closing time, and Eren is counting up what little profit the food stall has made today when he hears Connie whispering harshly at him from around the corner. There are three days til closing day, and he knows exactly what this is about when Connie appears out of nowhere with a shifty grin.

"We need your help with the fireworks thing."

"Uh – " Eren hesitates because he is eighty percent sure Connie and Sasha could get arrested for this and, personally, he would prefer not to go to jail. "What's going on?" he asks cautiously.

"Oh, don't look so worried," says Connie, nudging his elbows cheekily. "Everything's almost ready but no one else knows what we're going to pull off. We need you to spread the word without letting the managers know."

Eren raises an eyebrow at him. "You know, Levi could have your head for this."

"That's why we're counting on you to not let the managers know." Connie's grin grows wider. "Come on, it's all you have to do. Help a bro out? You can use the opportunity to confess to Annie. It'll be all romantic and shit, especially if you make sure you're on the boardwalk."

Eren sputters stupidly for a moment. "Confess to Annie – confess _what?_"

Connie snorts. "Now you're just playing dumb."

"I don't – Annie's not – " He coughs, because even to him, his excuses sound lame and stupid and very untrue. "_Fine_," he manages at last. "But not for that reason, okay?"

"Riiight," says Connie, smirking. "Thanks, bro. We're counting on you."

x

"For fuck's sake, Eren, just tell her."

Closing day is tomorrow, and the idea that he won't see many of these kids again ever is only just starting to sink in. No more horseface to dick around with after tomorrow; no more Conne and Sasha trying to pull jokes on everyone; no more sunsets with Annie by the bay. The realisation is about as sudden as the drop on the roller coaster and Eren finds himself suddenly and violently opposed to the change.

"Stop making it sound so easy," he snaps at Armin, throwing a scrunched up serviette at him. "I can't just go up to her and fucking –"

"Yeah, you can," says Armin patiently. "What have you got to lose?"

"Potentially her as a friend," Eren grumbles. "So what if she's going to New York? That's what Facebook is for – but you know how detached she likes to be and like – what if she friend dumps me for it?"

Armin raises an eyebrow at him. "Don't you think you're being a little overdramatic about this?"

"I'm _not_ being overdramatic, fucking hell –" He makes a noise of frustration and slumps over to introduce his forehead to the bench.

Armin sighs, hoisting himself up to take a seat on the counter next to his friend. "It's now or never, Eren," he says, patting his shoulder awkwardly. "You tell her or you don't, it's up to you. But it's the last time any of us will see each other – at least for a while – don't not do anything you might regret."

Eren replies with a groan.

x

With essentially no one coming in on closing day, Eren leaves the stall to Armin and Jean and sneaks off to tell the other staff about Connie and Sasha's last farewell to the park. He runs from one side of the park to the other, dropping in on everyone, from Mina, at the log flume, to Marco, at the Ferris wheel, to Reiner (risking exposure to Levi, the manager running ticket sales), at the bumper cars. It's a fair way to run, but even though it's less than a ten second walk from the food stall to the carousel, his insides clam up, and he does the coward's thing and walks straight past it.

"That's pathetic," Jean comments when he lets himself back in.

"Fuck you," snaps Eren.

"Guys." Armin glares at them both and rolls his eyes. "It's our last day. Can we please be mature about this?"

"No one's being immature about anything but Eren," says Jean.

Eren snarls at him, hands forming fists at his sides, and Armin groans loudly and steps between them.

"For crying out loud," he grumbles. "Eren, you know what? It's almost sunset. Here." He grabs a couple of baskets of cheese fries and shoves them into Eren's hands. "Give one of those to Annie and go on your break."

"Wha –"

Armin holds up his hands. "Look, it's closing day, and I am so not in the mood to deal with this shit, so Eren, just go, okay?"

x

It's the most awkward ten second walk to the carousel ever, and Eren can feel Armin and Jean's eyes digging holes into his back the entire way there. He does his best to ignore it, but his hands start to shake as he gets closer and it's an actual challenge trying not to spill any of the cheese fries.

"Hey, Annie," he begins, sounding hopefully cool and not as stupid as he thinks he does.

She turns, and Eren holds up the baskets of cheese fries, offering her a small grin. "Break time?"

Annie raises an eyebrow at him. "I only got here two hours ago."

Eren chuckles. "Who's going to notice?" He jerks his head towards the boardwalk. "Come on."

x

It starts like every other night they share their breaks, except it's the last one ever and they both know it. Eren's stomach is churning with maybe four very different emotions, and he glances at Annie out of the corner of his eye and coughs awkwardly.

"So," he says. "This is it."

She nods. "Yeah."

Eren pauses, fiddling with a fry in his basket. "Are you gonna miss it?"

Annie shrugs. "It's the same as everywhere else."

"It's not really," comments Eren, staring out over the bay. "The sunset won't be the same in Laramie. No bay. No mountains. No... well. You." He stares at his hands. "There's not much in this town, but you're in it – well. Until you leave, that is."

He pauses, and glances at her to find that she's staring at him as if he's just said something huge.

And then he realizes that he has.

"Oh. Shit." He coughs awkwardly. "I said that out loud, huh?"

"Yeah," says Annie, nodding.

"Heh." Eren looks away again, and he can feel the blush creeping up his face but it's too late to do anything about it now. It's now or never, like Armin had said. Tonight will be the last time he ever sees her unless he tells her now. He takes a breath. "You know, I've always kinda liked you, Annie," he mumbles. "It's stupid to tell you now, I know, but you'll be in New York soon and – it was now or never and..." He sighs. "I needed you to know."

There's a pause.

"I know," she says quietly. "I've always known."

Eren blinks. He turns to look at her so suddenly that he's surprised he doesn't get whiplash from it, only to find that she's moved her cheese fries to her other side and that she's shuffled close enough to lean over to press her lips to his cheek.

She pulls away before he even realizes that she's done it, and then she's on her feet and about to walk away when, out of instinct, Eren makes a grab for her hand.

"Stay," he asks. "Please?"

"I shouldn't – " she begins, but his grip around her fingers tightens momentarily and she allows him to tug her back down without much of an argument.

"It's our last day, Annie," he says. "Stay. Just for a little bit."

She sighs. "I don't really think I have a choice," she points out, glancing down at her hand, still tight in Eren's grip.

"Ah. Sorry." He grins at her sheepishly, and he loosens his hold but keeps his fingers intertwined with hers. He turns her hand carefully to glance at her watch and grins. "Look." He nods at the other side of the bay.

Annie frowns at him. "What am I looking at?" she asks, but the question is answered for her almost as soon as the words leave her mouth. There are lights on the farther shore, shooting into the air and exploding into thousands of red and gold stars. The sky is on fire again, but the lights shower over the bay instead of disappearing over the mountains, and it's just as beautiful as it was before.

"Connie and Sasha wanted to make everyone's last night memorable," Eren explains, grinning at Annie. "I think they did a good a job, don't you?"

"Yeah," whispers Annie, and she can feel a smile tugging at her lips as she watches the fire exploding above their heads.

"Annie?"

"What?"

Eren hesitates, and Annie glances at him curiously to find that he's gripping her hand between his, tracing circles over her thumb with his own.

"I'm gonna miss you, you know," he says finally. "Stay in touch, okay?"

She chuckles, and, hesitantly, she leans her head against his shoulder. "If you do the same," she promises, tucking her other hand between his as well.

"I can do that," says Eren with a smile, touching his lips to her hair. She smells like lilies and, for a second, he shuts his eyes and tries to memorise the way she fits against him; tries to link the smell of lilies to her so that he'll remember this long after she's gone. "We'll see each other again, right?"

"Yeah," murmurs Annie, pulling away for a moment. "We will."

And y'know? What has he got left to lose? Eren grins, and he tilts her chin up towards him and presses a gentle kiss to her lips. They are chapped, and Eren can taste cream soda on her tongue, but it feels perfect to him. The only thing that's not perfect about it is the fact that it is their first, and perhaps also their last.

He had hoped they would have more time but he'd left it for too long, and now this is it. This is all they'll have.

At least until next time. And there will be a next time. He can promise that.

x

**Some notes:**

**1) For Euregatto, who gave me the prompt "Boardwalk Fireworks". I'm sorry it took like two months but it's 4000 words long, I hope you're happy.**

**2) Bay is my usual beta, but like the last 4000 word thing I wrote, I did not send this to her because she has a life and I didn't want to bog her down with something this long.**


End file.
